"Then neither side can truly win," I said. "He's just setting the victors up for a later fall."
"That has always been Desmond's way," Evanna said. "What he helps create, he later destroys. Many empires – Egyptian, Persian, British – have already learnt that to their cost."
"Egyptian?" I blinked.
"Our father is a great fan of empires," Evanna said. "Cavemen hitting each other with sticks and bones were of very limited interest to him. He prefers to see people killing each other with more effective weapons, and in greater numbers. But for mankind to advance barbarically, it also had to advance in other ways. It had to grow socially, culturally, spiritually, technologically, medically. Only a nation which was great in all aspects could wage war greatly.
"Our father has had his hand in most of the notable architectural, technical or medical breakthroughs of mankind. He could never openly lead, but he influenced slyly. The only area where he had no real power was that of literature. Desmond is not a fictional dreamer. Reality is everything to him. He has no interest in the wonderful stories of mankind. Writers have always been alien to him – he does not read works of fiction, or take any notice of them."
"Never mind that," I grunted, not giving a hoot about Mr Tiny's choice of reading material. "Tell me more about his meddling with mankind, and time-travelling. You say Mr Tiny goes into the past to change the present and future. But what about the time paradox?" I'd seen lots of science fiction movies and TV shows. I knew all about the problems associated with the theory of time travel.
"There is no paradox," Evanna said. "The universe keeps natural order. The key events of the past cannot be changed – only the people involved."
"Huh?" I said.
"Once something important happens in the present – the universe, to give the higher force a name, decides what is important or not – it can never be changed," Evanna explained. "But you can alter the people involved. For instance, now that it has happened, you cannot travel to the past and prevent World War Two – but you could go back and kill Adolf Hitler. The universe would immediately create another person to fill his shoes. That person would be born like any normal person, grow up, then do what Hitler did, with precisely the same results. The name would change, but nothing else."
"But Hitler was a monster," I said. "He murdered millions of people. Do you mean, if Mr Tiny went back and killed him, some innocent guy would take his place? All those people would still die?"
"Yes," Evanna said.
"But then that person wouldn't have chosen their fate," I frowned. "They wouldn't be responsible for their actions."
Evanna sniffed. "The universe would have to create a child with the potential for wickedness – a good man cannot be forced to do evil – but once it did, yes, that person would become a victim of destiny. It does not happen often. Our father only occasionally replaces important figures of the past. Most people have free will. But there are a few who don't."
"Am I one of them?" I asked quietly, fearing the answer.
"Most definitely not," Evanna smiled. "Your time is the present time, and you are an original creation. Though you were manipulated by our father since birth, the path you trod had not been laid down by anyone before you."
Evanna thought for a few seconds, then tried to explain the situation in a way which I could more easily understand.
"Although our father cannot change the events of the past, he can make minor alterations," she said. "If something happens in the present which is not to his liking, he can return to the past and create a train of events designed to lead to a solution to whatever is troubling him. That's how vampires came to be so numerous and powerful."
"Mr Tiny created vampires?" I shouted – there was a myth that he'd made us, but I'd never believed it.
"No," Evanna said. "Vampires came into being by themselves. But there were never many of them. They were weak and disorganized. Then, in the middle of the twentieth century, our father decided mankind was taking a path towards peace and unity. Disliking it, he travelled to the past and spent a couple of decades trying different approaches to undermine humanity. In the end he settled on vampires. He gave them extra strength and speed, the power to flit and share their thoughts – all the supernatural abilities which you know about. He also provided them with leaders who would knock them into shape and turn them into an army.
"As powerful as the clan became, our father ensured they couldn't be a threat to humans. Originally vampires were able to come out by day – Desmond Tiny made them prisoners of the night, and robbed them of the gift of childbirth. Carefully shackled and maintained this way, the vampires had to live separately to the world of man and remain in the shadows. Since they didn't change anything important in the human history, the universe let them exist, and they eventually become part of the present – which is when our father was free to use them however he wished."
"And the present was my time?" I asked.
"Yes," Evanna said. "Time passes at the same rate, whether our father is in the past, present or future. So, since he spent almost twenty years stuck in the past, trying to find a way to topple humanity, it was late in the twentieth century when he returned to the present."
"And because vampires were now part of that present," I said, my brain hurting as I tried to keep up with all this mind-boggling information, "they were free to influence the future?"
"Correct," Evanna said. "But our father then saw that the clan wouldn't launch an attack on humanity if left to their own devices – they were content to stay out of the affairs of men. So he went back again – just for a few months this time – and engineered the vampaneze breakaway. By then planting the legend of the Lord of the Vampaneze, he edged them towards conflict with the vampires."
"And that led to the War of the Scars, and eventually the downfall of humanity," I growled, sick at the thought of the little man's terrible slyness.
"Well," Evanna smiled, "that was the plan."
"Do you mean-" I began to say excitedly, sensing hope in her smile.
"Hush," Evanna stopped me. "I will reveal all shortly. But now it is time for us to move on." She pointed to where the sun was setting on the horizon. "The nights are colder in this time than in yours. We will be safer underground. Besides," she said, rising, "we have an appointment to keep."
"With who?" I asked.
She looked at me steadily. "Our father."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Mr Tiny was the last person in the world – in all of time! – that I wanted to see. I argued with Evanna hotly, wanting to know why I should present myself to him, or what it could achieve. I hated and feared the meddler more than ever now that I knew so much about him.
"I want to be on the opposite side of the world to wherever he is!" I cried. "Or in another universe, if possible!"
"I understand," Evanna said, "but we must go to him regardless."
"Is he forcing you to do this?" I asked. "Is he the one who ordered me fished out of the Lake? Is he making you take me to him, so that he can mess my life up all over again?"
"You will find out when you meet him," Evanna said coolly, and since I didn't really have any option but to follow her lead – she could have had me tossed back into the Lake if I disobeyed – eventually, and with much angry muttering, I reluctantly followed after her as she set off into the arid wilderness.
As we left the warmth of the fire, the dragon flapped its wings and took to the skies. I watched it join the throng of dragons far above me, then lost track of it. When I looked back at Evanna, I saw that she was still staring up at the sky. "I wish we could have gone for a flight," she said, sounding curiously sad.
"On the dragon?" I asked.
"Yes. It has always been a wish of mine to fly on a dragon."
"I could call it back," I suggested.
She shook her head quickly. "This isn't the time for it," she said. "And there are too many of them. The others would see us on its back and attack. I don't think you would be able to control so many, not without more practice. And while I can mask us from them down here, I couldn't up there."
As we continued to walk, I looked around and backwards, and my gaze settled on the Little People standing motionless by the Lake. "Why are that lot here?" I asked.
"This is the age in which our father fishes for the souls of the dead to create his Little People," Evanna said, without looking back or slowing. "He could take them from any time, but it's easier this way, when there is nobody to interfere. He leaves a small band of his helpers here, to fish when he gives the order." She glanced at me. "He could have rescued you much earlier. In the present, only two years have passed. He had the power to remove you from the Lake then, but he wanted to punish you. Your sacrifice threw his plans into disarray. He hates you for that, even though you are his son. That's why he sent me forward to this point in time to help you. In this future, your soul has suffered for countless generations. He wanted you to feel the pain of near-eternal imprisonment, and perhaps even go mad from it, so that you couldn't be saved."